Do you have to sign an annex to your employment contract?

When may an employer offer an annex?

An annex (aneks) is a change to the terms of work you agreed. Article 171 of the Labour Law (Zakon o radu) lists the reasons for which an employer may offer one:

• transfer to another suitable job, because of the needs of the work process and the organisation of work;
• transfer to another place of work with the same employer;
• assignment to work for another employer;
• when, as a redundant employee, you have been given one of the measures from the redundancy programme, for example another job or part-time work;
• a change in the elements used to determine salary and other earnings under the employment contract;
• other cases laid down by law, internal rules (opšti akt) or the employment contract.

A suitable job (odgovarajući posao) is one that requires the same type and the same level of qualifications as the job in your contract. The offer must be in writing. With it, the employer must state in writing the reasons for the offer, the period within which you must respond and the consequences that may follow if you refuse it (Article 172).

How long do you have to reply?

Is a deadline running? Call +381 65 2935 637 or send an enquiry with the annex offer.

The employer may give you a longer period, but not a shorter one. If you do not sign the annex within that period, you are deemed to have refused the offer. The period runs from the day of receipt, so keep proof of when you received the offer: the delivery receipt, the email or a copy with the date written on it.

Use that time to compare the offer with the contract you have. Check whether a statutory reason is given, whether the new job really is suitable and what changes in your salary.

What if you refuse the annex?

If you refuse an annex offered for one of the first five reasons in Article 171, the employer may terminate your employment contract. It does so by a written dismissal decision (rešenje o otkazu), with a statement of reasons and an instruction on legal remedy.

Refusing does not take away your right to argue, in a dispute over the dismissal, that the annex offer was unlawful. If the offer had no statutory reason or did not contain what the law requires, the court examines that question in that dispute.

How do you challenge an annex?

If you signed the annex, you keep the right to challenge its lawfulness in court (Article 172). If you refused it and were dismissed, you challenge the dismissal decision. In both cases the dispute starts with a lawsuit before the basic court (osnovni sud).

Is a deadline running? Call +381 65 2935 637 or send an enquiry with the dismissal decision or the signed annex.

According to the legal position of the Supreme Court of Cassation (Vrhovni kasacioni sud, now the Supreme Court) of 12 October 2021, the nullity of individual provisions of an employment contract or an annex can be sought even after the 60-day deadline has passed, because the right to seek a declaration of nullity does not become time-barred. This applies, for example, to provisions that set less favourable working conditions than those under the law or the internal rules, and to provisions that discriminate.

When do you not need a lawyer?

If the annex is more favourable to you, for example a higher salary for the same job, or only brings the contract into line with a new regulation, you can sign it without legal help. Before signing, compare the new text with the old contract line by line, and keep your copy.